On a balmy September evening, as the sun drifts down behind the Galtee Mountains, guests arriving at the door of a historic farmhouse-turned B&B will be greeted by the delicious aromas of Andalusian food. Bringing the flavours of this Spanish region to Mitchestown for one night may look relaxed and effortless for the lucky few who got a booking.
For Ciara O’Brien of Barnahown in North Cork and Cinta Ramblado of Newport, Co Tipperary’s Choquera Bakery & Bistro, this is the result of months of planning and hard work.
It’s been just over a year since Ciara opened her award-winning B&B, and - along with offering stylish, sustainable accommodation – she has also made her mark with a variety of pop-up restaurants. Her intent was clear from the start. In July 2024, Ciara’s first event involved chef Luis Martin from fine dining Waterford restaurant Mara.
Since then, there have been nights with French-trained nomadic chef Anna Flood. Praline Café & Chocolate Shop has run a series of afternoon teas on site. Chris Braganza – aka The Spice Genie – brought Goan cuisine to the Galtees for St Patrick’s weekend and leisurely Delalicious brunches have been served up by Tipperary-based Sinéad Delahunty.
A new career
Ciara is very clear that “it’s not just about getting chefs in and doing pop-ups for the sake of it.” She chooses her collaborators very carefully. “I find it interesting when someone has chosen to go a different way, when they have the courage to find a different path and follow their passion. Most chefs that come here have a story of reinvention,” she says.
As does Ciara: before Barnahown, she spent 20 years as a corporate executive working for businesses like Pepsi, Unilever and Google. In 2023, she made the move back to her hometown to embark on a new life in hospitality.
Stepping sideways into a new career is something that Ciara and Cinta have in common. Cinta opened Choquera (formerly The Pink Tent) in 2022, after almost 25 years as a lecturer and head of department at the University of Limerick (UL).
From Huelva, on the south-west coast of Andalucia, she came to study in Ireland for the last year of her degree, met her husband John, and has spent the last 32 years here.
As her mother was a butcher, Cinta grew up in the local market, surrounded by the sights, sounds and buzz of food. Despite a career in academia, she could never resist being drawn back into this environment.
After a brief stint as a pastry chef in 2011 – you might have tasted her famous mile-high lemon meringue pies at Limerick’s La Cucina – Cinta began selling her scones, cakes, buns, and sourdough bread at the Castletroy Farmers’ Market in 2019. She subsequently took early retirement from her UL job. “Food was always close to my heart,” says Cinta. “I wanted to do food fully. It was just crazy, or a brave decision. For some people, it’s crazy,” she laughs.
Ciara O'Brien from Barnahown B&B, Mitchelstown, Co Cork pictured with Cinta Ramblado, Choquera Bakery & Bistro, Newport, Co Tipperary. \ Donal O'Leary
A new career
In June, Ciara and Cinta started talking about doing an autumn pop-up. It wasn’t long before they discovered that they had more than food in common. “When I saw Cinta,” says Ciara, “I recognised her face. I had studied Applied Languages in UL about 25 years ago and that was when we originally crossed paths. Now we’re back together, but doing something totally different.”
For Ciara, working with different chefs in a space that’s not a restaurant kitchen - these events take place in her own airy living room adjoining the B&B – necessitates a level of cooperation and trust. “I think the most important thing to organising a pop-up in your property is to make sure you have a good connection and share similar principles. You don’t have the benefit of developing consistency through practice. You have to be able to roll it out on the fly, and you only get one shot at it!”
With the pop-ups, we want to do something different, to have people choosing to get dressed up and go out
Logistically, there’s a lot of moving around when it comes making a pop-up dining area. “It’s a big undertaking for me, moving into my living space,” notes Ciara. “There’s half a day of prep beforehand, and then it all has to be put back together ready for breakfast service the next morning, I use all the same tables and chairs.” What’s important to Ciara is that there’s consistency for the people who come to enjoy the night. “The guest experience starts from the moment they arrive at the front door. While there will be different chefs [cooking], I always want guests to have an amazing experience.” With up to 25 people sitting at long tables in the same room as the open kitchen, there’s also an exciting level of theatricality to the event, allowing the audience to observe their food being cooked and plated.
No matter how much preparation takes place in advance (and there’s a lot) delivering restaurant-standard food in a non-restaurant space is a challenge. “You always need a plan B,” says Cinta. “You have to be able to work through a crisis on the spot, especially when you’re not in your own kitchen. But the element of challenge is fun as well. Also, because of the nature of this pop-up, it lets me show how Andalusian cuisine is so achievable in a home kitchen.”
As she brings her unique food to Barnahon – “these are recipes that I make that you can’t get anywhere else, they’re typical of my area” – Cinta will be using produce from the Mitchelstown area. From flowers to photography, woodwork and murals, Ciara celebrates makers from the area throughout the B&B and she insists that visiting chefs work with local suppliers. “There are certain rules when you come in here,” she says, “and one of them is that you must use as many local producers as possible. That’s the point of it. My challenge to the chef is to use what we have locally.”
Cinta Ramblado, Choquera Bakery & Bistro, Newport, Co Tipperary pictured with Ciara O'Brien, Barnahown B&B, Mitchelstown, Co Cork.
\ Donal O'Leary
Challenge
It’s a challenge that Cinta was happy to accept. When I spoke to the duo last month, they were planning a Mitchestown meeting so that Cinta could finalise suppliers; she already had Hanley’s and Finn’s butchers on her list, along with Open Hearth Farm for vegetables. “The interesting thing about the pop-up,” says Cinta, “is that we can complement this [regional] produce with local produce from my hometown. I buy direct from small producers in Huelva. Sourcing takes a lot more time, but I know exactly what I am getting.”
Cinta’s commitment to cooking the food of her Andalusian homeplace in rural Ireland is what makes people travel for miles to Choquera. “We’re off the beaten track,” she says. "Newport is a small town, and we’re in a business park outside the town”, and it is what will bring them to Mitchelstown for this special experience.
“With the pop-ups, we want to do something different, to have people choosing to get dressed up and go out,” says Ciara. “There are two types of people that come,” she adds, “the first are local people who value good cooking and are delighted that someone like Cinta is cooking here. And the other is someone up in Dublin, looking for a cool place to go for the weekend and choosing to come to Mitchelstown because they’re guaranteed something really nice with a unique story. Also, they’re going to be able to enjoy a quality of cooking that’s as good as they’ll find anywhere.”
From Newport to Mitchelstown, via Huelva, Cinta and Ciara have worked together to create a special kind of food synergy in an unusual place, a pop-up that’s sure to make for a memorable night.
The Barnahown Choquera Bistro pop-up takes place on Saturday 13 September, with by autumn dining events at Barnahown B&B including Waterford’s Mara, brunch with Delalicious and Praline afternoon teas. Choquera Bistro runs tapas nights in Newport on 26 September, 31 October and every Thursday, Friday and Saturday in December. See choquera.com and barnahown.com.
On a balmy September evening, as the sun drifts down behind the Galtee Mountains, guests arriving at the door of a historic farmhouse-turned B&B will be greeted by the delicious aromas of Andalusian food. Bringing the flavours of this Spanish region to Mitchestown for one night may look relaxed and effortless for the lucky few who got a booking.
For Ciara O’Brien of Barnahown in North Cork and Cinta Ramblado of Newport, Co Tipperary’s Choquera Bakery & Bistro, this is the result of months of planning and hard work.
It’s been just over a year since Ciara opened her award-winning B&B, and - along with offering stylish, sustainable accommodation – she has also made her mark with a variety of pop-up restaurants. Her intent was clear from the start. In July 2024, Ciara’s first event involved chef Luis Martin from fine dining Waterford restaurant Mara.
Since then, there have been nights with French-trained nomadic chef Anna Flood. Praline Café & Chocolate Shop has run a series of afternoon teas on site. Chris Braganza – aka The Spice Genie – brought Goan cuisine to the Galtees for St Patrick’s weekend and leisurely Delalicious brunches have been served up by Tipperary-based Sinéad Delahunty.
A new career
Ciara is very clear that “it’s not just about getting chefs in and doing pop-ups for the sake of it.” She chooses her collaborators very carefully. “I find it interesting when someone has chosen to go a different way, when they have the courage to find a different path and follow their passion. Most chefs that come here have a story of reinvention,” she says.
As does Ciara: before Barnahown, she spent 20 years as a corporate executive working for businesses like Pepsi, Unilever and Google. In 2023, she made the move back to her hometown to embark on a new life in hospitality.
Stepping sideways into a new career is something that Ciara and Cinta have in common. Cinta opened Choquera (formerly The Pink Tent) in 2022, after almost 25 years as a lecturer and head of department at the University of Limerick (UL).
From Huelva, on the south-west coast of Andalucia, she came to study in Ireland for the last year of her degree, met her husband John, and has spent the last 32 years here.
As her mother was a butcher, Cinta grew up in the local market, surrounded by the sights, sounds and buzz of food. Despite a career in academia, she could never resist being drawn back into this environment.
After a brief stint as a pastry chef in 2011 – you might have tasted her famous mile-high lemon meringue pies at Limerick’s La Cucina – Cinta began selling her scones, cakes, buns, and sourdough bread at the Castletroy Farmers’ Market in 2019. She subsequently took early retirement from her UL job. “Food was always close to my heart,” says Cinta. “I wanted to do food fully. It was just crazy, or a brave decision. For some people, it’s crazy,” she laughs.
Ciara O'Brien from Barnahown B&B, Mitchelstown, Co Cork pictured with Cinta Ramblado, Choquera Bakery & Bistro, Newport, Co Tipperary. \ Donal O'Leary
A new career
In June, Ciara and Cinta started talking about doing an autumn pop-up. It wasn’t long before they discovered that they had more than food in common. “When I saw Cinta,” says Ciara, “I recognised her face. I had studied Applied Languages in UL about 25 years ago and that was when we originally crossed paths. Now we’re back together, but doing something totally different.”
For Ciara, working with different chefs in a space that’s not a restaurant kitchen - these events take place in her own airy living room adjoining the B&B – necessitates a level of cooperation and trust. “I think the most important thing to organising a pop-up in your property is to make sure you have a good connection and share similar principles. You don’t have the benefit of developing consistency through practice. You have to be able to roll it out on the fly, and you only get one shot at it!”
With the pop-ups, we want to do something different, to have people choosing to get dressed up and go out
Logistically, there’s a lot of moving around when it comes making a pop-up dining area. “It’s a big undertaking for me, moving into my living space,” notes Ciara. “There’s half a day of prep beforehand, and then it all has to be put back together ready for breakfast service the next morning, I use all the same tables and chairs.” What’s important to Ciara is that there’s consistency for the people who come to enjoy the night. “The guest experience starts from the moment they arrive at the front door. While there will be different chefs [cooking], I always want guests to have an amazing experience.” With up to 25 people sitting at long tables in the same room as the open kitchen, there’s also an exciting level of theatricality to the event, allowing the audience to observe their food being cooked and plated.
No matter how much preparation takes place in advance (and there’s a lot) delivering restaurant-standard food in a non-restaurant space is a challenge. “You always need a plan B,” says Cinta. “You have to be able to work through a crisis on the spot, especially when you’re not in your own kitchen. But the element of challenge is fun as well. Also, because of the nature of this pop-up, it lets me show how Andalusian cuisine is so achievable in a home kitchen.”
As she brings her unique food to Barnahon – “these are recipes that I make that you can’t get anywhere else, they’re typical of my area” – Cinta will be using produce from the Mitchelstown area. From flowers to photography, woodwork and murals, Ciara celebrates makers from the area throughout the B&B and she insists that visiting chefs work with local suppliers. “There are certain rules when you come in here,” she says, “and one of them is that you must use as many local producers as possible. That’s the point of it. My challenge to the chef is to use what we have locally.”
Cinta Ramblado, Choquera Bakery & Bistro, Newport, Co Tipperary pictured with Ciara O'Brien, Barnahown B&B, Mitchelstown, Co Cork.
\ Donal O'Leary
Challenge
It’s a challenge that Cinta was happy to accept. When I spoke to the duo last month, they were planning a Mitchestown meeting so that Cinta could finalise suppliers; she already had Hanley’s and Finn’s butchers on her list, along with Open Hearth Farm for vegetables. “The interesting thing about the pop-up,” says Cinta, “is that we can complement this [regional] produce with local produce from my hometown. I buy direct from small producers in Huelva. Sourcing takes a lot more time, but I know exactly what I am getting.”
Cinta’s commitment to cooking the food of her Andalusian homeplace in rural Ireland is what makes people travel for miles to Choquera. “We’re off the beaten track,” she says. "Newport is a small town, and we’re in a business park outside the town”, and it is what will bring them to Mitchelstown for this special experience.
“With the pop-ups, we want to do something different, to have people choosing to get dressed up and go out,” says Ciara. “There are two types of people that come,” she adds, “the first are local people who value good cooking and are delighted that someone like Cinta is cooking here. And the other is someone up in Dublin, looking for a cool place to go for the weekend and choosing to come to Mitchelstown because they’re guaranteed something really nice with a unique story. Also, they’re going to be able to enjoy a quality of cooking that’s as good as they’ll find anywhere.”
From Newport to Mitchelstown, via Huelva, Cinta and Ciara have worked together to create a special kind of food synergy in an unusual place, a pop-up that’s sure to make for a memorable night.
The Barnahown Choquera Bistro pop-up takes place on Saturday 13 September, with by autumn dining events at Barnahown B&B including Waterford’s Mara, brunch with Delalicious and Praline afternoon teas. Choquera Bistro runs tapas nights in Newport on 26 September, 31 October and every Thursday, Friday and Saturday in December. See choquera.com and barnahown.com.
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